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Writing 101

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A new society…Book Review

Imagine living in a society where your right to an education is denied. You are denied access to books, magazines, newspapers anyway that you can educate or entertain yourself. Also imagine being denied any mode to make yourself feel beautiful even if it’s just as simple as applying lotion. Being denied the simple things that many of us take for granted, how would we be able to adjust, if we can’t wash or conditioned our hair when we want, could not read a book or magazine, everything we do or every place we need to go is monitored or scheduled by an established government. Now imagine these rules only applying to women of a certain class. Can you envision living in a society where your pride, your dignity does not matter. A society where you worth is valued by your ability to reproduce. This is the basis of the story of the “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, one of the many books on my to-read list.

Despite the plot of the story, it was an enjoyable read (at least in my opinion). It’s considered a fantasy genre because of a creation of a new “futuristic” society. It begins with the overthrow of the United States, the President and many members of the Congress are killed, the United States Constitution is abolished and a new regime is implanted. The society is “managed” by a militia group, where various Commanders take lead of the country. During the take over many families are captured, women are separated from their families, the younger women were trained as handmaids so that they supply the needs of the Commanders and Commanders’ Wives.

The story was told from the point of view of a handmaid named Offred, which means this handmaid was of Fred one of the high Commanders. She gave her account of the lives of the other handmaids, her close relationship with another handmaid named Ofglen, living in this military society, her life, her private thoughts, and historical accounts about how she arrived in this controlled society.

I did not get a chance to finish this book, apparently it’s a highly requested book at the public library, however, this book is highly recommended. Through reading this book it would make you appreciate your life and those little things that are easily taken for granted such the accessibility to education, reading a book or newspaper, scanning a magazine, even the luxury of applying moisturizer lotion to your skin, those things that can easily be revoked without notice no matter the protest.